Our Hard-pressed Ex-presidents

From one of his slow-paying subscribers, the editor of the Southern Literary Messenger received in 1850 the following apologetic letter. The author, who had been billed for $1.25, was the former President of the United States, then in retirement at Sherwood Forest, on the James River.

Sherwood ForestApril 5, 1850

Dear SirYour note of the 30 March reached me by last mail and I hasten to say that as soon as I can get my crop of corn to market, now ready for delivery, I will remit the amount of your bill. You are aware that we farmers have but two periods of the year when we can with any degree of certainty command monied funds, viz. the Spring and Fall, upon the sale of our corn and wheat. I shall make no apologies for past remissness in paying my subscription to the L. Messenger, to which I have been a subscriber from the date of its first number, the best mode of compensating for neglect, being by repairing its results.

With sentiments of great respect,

Yrs &cJohn Tyler

This letter was recently discovered in the manuscript collection of the late Lloyd W. Smith, now at the Morristown (New Jersey) National Historical Park.

Why do we need a national
nonprofit membership society for American history?

“Save America’s Treasures” has been totally eliminated—the largest Federal program supporting preservation of such treasures as the original Star Spangled Banner and George Washington’s tent.

65% of Americans don’t know what happened at the Constitutional Convention, according to a recent survey by Newsweek.

The “Teaching American History” grants—the largest Federal program supporting history education—have been completely eliminated.

Visits to the Top 20 Civil War battlefields have dropped in half from 1970 to 2009 according to official National Park Service statistics.

40% of Americans can’t identify whom we fought in World War II, according to a recent survey by Newsweek.

A quarter of Americans believe Congress shares power over U.S. foreign policy with the United Nations, according to a recent Annenberg survey.

“There is little that is more important for an American citizen to know than the history and traditions of his country,” John F. Kennedy wrote in American Heritage.

The “We the People Program,” which touched some 30 million students and 90,000 teachers over 25 years, has been completely eliminated.

Two-thirds of Americans could not correctly name Yorktown as the last major military action of the American Revolution, according to a recent national Gallup survey.

The National Heritage Areas and Scenic Byways program, the only major Federal program encouraging visits to historic places, has been completely eliminated in Congressional committee.